Non-vibration chair.



H. A. BATES & "H. SBRRELL.

NoN-VIBRATION CHAIR. :APPLICATION FILED APR. 19, 1911.

Patented Apr. 84,1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H. A. BATES & H. SBRRELL. NoN-VIBRITION CHAIR; APPLICATION FILED APR.19,1911

1,058,655, Patented Ap.s,1913.

2 SHEETS-SHHET 2.

passed down through. the upper part of the .-NITED STAWENT OFFICE. lf

HENRY A. BATES,

or MIDDLE'roWN, coNNEcrroUT, AND HAROLD sEnRELL', or PLAIN- EIELD, NEW JERSEY, AssIGNons-To SAID BATES.

NoN-VIBRATION CHAIR` Specification Yof Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8,1913.

i i Application filed April 1,9, 1911. Serial No. 621,968. y

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY A. BATES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Middletown, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, and HAROLD SERBELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Plainfield, in the county of Somerset and State of New Jersey, have invented an lmprovement in Non -Vibration Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention has special referenced/0y -passenger is sitting centrally and true onclining in any attitude. l In carrymg out our invention and m comthe seat, or. is sitting over the edge orrebination with a suitable support or base and the chair frame,we employ a volute or similar spring and a central vertically disposed pivot-shaft between the support and seatframe, and means providing for compensating for the tendency of the parts swaying or beingdiverted in any direction and so to blnd. sually the central pivot shaft will be connected at4 its upper end toan X-frame or spider of metall and this at its ends be secured to the seatframe and said shaft base or'pedestal which rests upon or is secured to the oor of the car.

We prefer to employ a 'volute sprin as the smaller part bears onthe upper sur ace of the pedestal andthe larger part bears against the undersurface of the X-frame or spider. The lower end of the shaft is Pref-4 erably exteriorly threaded forvone or more' nuts preferably employed forI applying an appreciable pressure and tension upon the spring and means at the upper tubular part of the pedestal or base vor upper end of the shaft to compensate for any tendency of the parts to move with the shaft out of a vertical position, or cause a binding thereof from any cause, all of which is hereinafter more particularly described.

-Similar letters or numerals of Areference refer to similar parts.

In the drawing, Figures 1, i5 and 7 are vertical sections and partial elevations representing forms of our invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical cent-ral section and partial elevation and Fig. 3 a sectional plan at the dotted .line aal/v, 'of Fig. 2 representing a form of.

our invention. Fig. 4 is also a vertical cen-V tral section and partial elevationA representing still another form of our invention, WhileFigis a plan at about the dotted line y, y, of. Fig. 5 and in vlarger size illustrating the form of vour invention shown in Fig. 5,-cr.a slight modification thereof.` .rv represents-a chair-frame and a1 theseat thereof;` b represents the back-frameand b? the upholstered back, b2, the arms,2 repre.

senting a hinge for connecting the back- 'Y frame to the seat-frame.y These parts may be vof -any well-known or desired constructionfwithout in .any 'sense departing from the'spirit of our invention.

l c isa tubular shaft or pivot-shaft vertically dis osed and at its upper end provided v with a rame c1 or spiderjof several arms which reach out-to the seat-frame and are connected thereto preferably by Iscrews as showngd is a. pedestal orbase and 6% the tubular upper end thereof. Thispart is vusually made circular to rest uponl the floor of-the'car and. maybe fsecured 'thereto by screws. This, however, is not at all material for our invention.` l l In 4the figures of the' drawing-we have illustrated the lower endof the shaft c as screw-threaded and in' most instances asprovided with a washer and with two nuts 4. l In Figs, 1 and' .7, 3 represents a washer.

sion tothe volute spring e while'the other nut. is only a lock-nut.

011e of these nuts is adapted'to apply a' tenat least-Av two hundred 'and fty or three hundred pounds more o;- -les'sgand it is advantageous' to-applyby tension of the' nuts 4 11,0

an initial pressure of about fifty pounds upon the spring so as to prevent unneces# sary looseness and to steadythe seat,-parv ticularly when the car is running. It is therefore quite apparentpthat the wei ht of the occupant of a chair in excess o fifty pounds will 4cause a. depression of the chair and increase the tension on the spring and a lowering through the pedestal of t-he tubular sha-ft c, and we prefer to form with the frame or spider c1 lugs 5 coming outside of the larger convolution of the spring to limit its expansive movement.

upon the seat this may be all that is required to take up the vibration. However, should the passenger sit on the edge of the seat or recline therein in such a position as to disturb the center of weight there would likely be a binding -action of the tubular shaft c in the tubular upper end d1 of the pedestal, and to provide for that We have evised several substantially equivalent devices, as follows z-In Figs. 2 and 3, the upper tubular end d2 of the pedestal is increased in diameter and recessed; the lower portion however, at d3 being maintained on the contracted area to snugly surround the tubular shaft c, and inthe recess formed lin `the tubular part d2 there is placed 'a series of blade springs f advantageously spaced apart, connected at .their lower ends to the' tubular upper end d2, coming with force in contact with the tubular shaft o and at their upper ends overlying the upper end of this tubular member d2 so as to provide for an oscillation of the tubular shaft so that it may readily assume a position not exactly vertical according to the position of the 0c. cupant of the chair, and in this connection wehave provided a curved washer 6 so that the center of motion may be about at the curved washer or at the part d2 of the upper ,end of the pedestal as a fulcrum.

In Fig. 4 a modification of this form of our invention is illustrated in which4 the other parts being the same, we have provided a sleeve g around the tubular shaft c and between the same and the interior of the tubular recessed upper end of the pedestal d2 one or more springs g1, which it will be-readily seen, performs the same function.

In the form of our invention shown in Figs. l5 and 6, the tubular recessed upper end d2 of the pedestal is still further enlarged and provided withupper and lower lgrooves and with top and bottom plates 7 8 4which are secured to the top and vbottom surfaces of ther upper end of the edestal.

YIn the grooves thus provided we p ace an- 'nular ball-bearing collars between the outer surface of which and the inner surface of the grooves at the upper end of the tubular portion d2 are springs h1. These springs may be of any desired character, either volute, as shown in Fig. 5, or radially disposed helices, as shown in Fig. 6, either one performing the function of maintaining the annular ball-bearing collars h in the vertical axial center of the Chair and causing the tubular shaft thereof to maintain such position. In this connection it is quite apparent that any tendency to divert the tubular shaft c from a true vertical axis is at once taken up by the shifting of t-he annular ball-bearing collars, one moving in one direction and vthe other in the opposite direction. It is also apparent that this movement o1; yielding of the members does not in any way interfere With the resilient action of the volute spring e nor hamper the movements thereof by its yielding function to take up the vibration of the car.

Another form of our invention is shown in Fig. 7, in which the movement of the springs is as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, and

the spring-controlled ball-bearing collars asshown in Figs. 5 and 6, where we employ a ball and socket joint,-that is to say, the ballhead z' is` rovided at the upper part of the tubular s aft c and a socket 7c 1s provided in the center of the fiat frame or l spider e2; a plate or half-plate 7c1 being provided around the lower portion of the ballhead z' and secured to the under surface of theflat frame or spider c2 for the purpose of holding the spider or frame to the tubular shaft and preventing accidental disengagement. According to this formof our 1nvention,-Fig. 7 ,-it will be quite apparent, first, that with a nominal ressure of about fifty pounds applied to t e volute spring e, the same will be suiiicient to at all times maintain the chair in a horizontal plane and will, we believe,be sufficient to prevent any tendency of theI extra weight of the back or arms td disturb this position of equilibrium. Second, that any weight of the passenger disposed unequally upon the seat will tend to swine the seat upon the ball and socket joint slightly out in a horizontal plane andy this tendencywill be in proportion to the weight of the passen r and the compressive force thereof applied to the volute springe. This tendency however, is not sufficient-to cause any deiieetion from the vertical axis of the tubular shaft c so that the same, with the weight, will freely pass upand down through the tubular upper end d1 of theipcdestal.

The several forms of our invention herein illustrated and described, we believe to be fully capable of compensating for the direct weight of the passenger and occu ant of the seat, as well as for any undue si e or to take up vibration, andmeans oomprlsing f torsional strain that may be applied by the.

position of the passenger being lout .of direct center, and that the compensating devices provided therefor will not in any sense interfere with the direct action of the volute spring e in preventing the vibration of the car being communicated to the passenger occupying the seat.

ployment of a volute spring,-although we prefer the same,-beeause any spring interposed between the car seat and the base or pedestal, or arrangement of springs adapted to perform the same resilient 'function will come within-"the scope of our invention.

We claim as our invention: I

1. The combination with a revoluble car seat, a vertically disposed shaft therefor, and a base or pedestal having a tubular upper end or neck, of a sprin interposed'between the car seat and the ase or pedestal at least in part suitable spring devlces located Within the upper end or neck ofthe base or pedestal an'd providing or compensatingvfor the tendency of the parts to sway or be diverted in any dreetion and `so binding. i 1

" 2. The combination with acar seat, of a vertically disposed shaft having a flarmg upper part or frame for attachment to the seat, and a baseer pedestal having a tubular We do not limit our invention to the emupper part or neck appreciably larger than the said shaft, and the shaft passing through the neck of the pedestal, a spring interposed between lthe car seat and the pedestal to take up vibration, and yielding devices in the tubular upper end or neck'of the pedes- 1 tal making a bearing between the same and said shaft, and providing or compensatlng for a tendency of the parts" to sway or be diverted out of a vertieal'line.

Signed by us this seventh day of April,

HENRY A. BATES.Y

` HAROLD SERRELL.'

Witnesses:

Gmo. T. PIGKNEY, E.' ZAOARIASEN. 

